Japan's activity

Japan’s quake, tsunami and atomic alert

• LISTENING GAP FILL 1

Japan is beginning the cleanup after Friday’s deadly earthquake and tsunami. The death _____ toll is currently ______________ at 573 with hundreds more people missing. Most of the people died in the massive tsunami, which is up ten meters high.
Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency says the number of destroyedbuildings has reached 3,400, but that is expected to rise. In the quake-hit areas, around 5.57 million households currently have no electricity, while more than one million homes have had their water supply cut off.
The mega-earthquake is the seventh largest ever recorded. It hit northeast Japan at 2:46 p.m. with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale. It was _____ felt as far away ______________ asBeijing, China.
The following tsunami has completely washed away large parts of Japan’s north. The damage is____ in tens ___ of billions of dollars. Fifty-three countries in the Pacific Rim were put on tsunami alert. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said his main focus now is to stop a nuclear power plant from overheating. Scientists released radioactive steam from the plant to reduce the pressureinside it.

Match the following phrases from the article.

Paragraph 1
1. beginning the a. earthquake
2 deadly b. buildings
3. hundreds more c. have no electricity
4. destroyedd. cut off
5. households currently e. cleanup
6. had their water supply f. people missing

Paragraph 2
1. the seventh largest a. of Japan’s north
2 It hit b. pressure inside it
3. washed away large partsc. from overheating
4. put on tsunami d. ever recorded
5. stop a nuclear power plant e. alert
6. reduce the f. northeast Japan

Second explosion at Japan nuclear plant
• LISTENING GAP FILL 2
A second explosion hasoccurred at the nuclear power plant that was damaged in Friday’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Nuclear reactor 3 from the Fukushima plant suffers a similar plant suffered a similar explosion to that which hit reactor 1 on Saturday. Officials say the blast did not damage the casing which _ houses ____ the uranium fuel rods in the reactor’s core. Experts believe the latest explosion was causedby___ by a build-up ___ of hydrogen in the building that covers the core. Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan has told people there is no danger of a radioactive leak, but warned the situation to cool the reactors is still critical. He described recent events as "the biggest crisis Japan has ______ encountered _______________ 65 years since the end of World War II".
Japan is beginning to understandmore details of this its tragedies. The death _____ toll is ___slowly raising. Police found over 2,000 bodies on the coast line of Miyagi prefecture on Monday and at least ten thousand people are missing in the port town of Minamisanriku. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a 20-km radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plants – many fear they will never see their homes again. Morethan 22 Fukushima residents are being treated for the effects of exposure to radiation. The whole of Japan is extremely concerned about the ongoing crisis at the power plants. Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl is highly unlikely. Nevertheless, the quiet fear and panic experienced by the Japanese raise questions about nuclear safety.
❖ SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms...